


Hours Before Dawn

by LanternJawedStudmuffin



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dream Eater Riku, Dream Eaters (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Friendship/Love, Multi, Takes place between DDD and KH3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 19:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18079889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LanternJawedStudmuffin/pseuds/LanternJawedStudmuffin
Summary: Everything is better after a good night's sleep.





	Hours Before Dawn

Cool air painted Riku's skin with shimmering sweat and goosebumps, his body still too hot under the covers. Tan, naked limbs wrapped around him like a second blanket as Sora snored into his shoulder. Across the room, Riku's bed was still neatly made, having been untouched since he bothered to tidy his side of their room last week. It was strange; despite his penchant for keeping things relatively organized, he felt more comfortable like this, surrounded by the chaos of their discarded clothing with nothing but a thin stream of light from the washroom warming the dark night.

He could have fallen asleep already, but Riku fended off the inevitable. His fingers skimmed Sora's back idly, up and down and circling, while he waited and wondered.

They'd been talking earlier about the paopu fruit, and about Kairi. Their petty squabbles over who got to hold her hand or kiss her cheek or sit beside her seemed a lifetime ago – now, they talked seriously instead about their mutual love between fond kisses of their own. Something big was coming, and Sora was uncharacteristically worried about it.

Riku understood. Since the Mark of Mastery exam, he'd been feeling weaker, more distracted. He was quicker to get frustrated, faster to turn to his friends for help than before. It had put him in a strange position in which he had more responsibility than ever before, but less capability.

He wanted to make sure everyone knew how much they meant to him. Sora told Riku and Kairi both how much he loved them ten or more times a day. He wasn't just free with affection, he was _adamant_. If Sora perceived any doubt in either of them (which both Riku and Kairi were prone to; Riku had too much guilt, Kairi had been left alone too often) he fell over himself to please his two greatest loves.

Sora wanted to know, today, how Riku felt about him sharing a paopu with Kairi. Once, Riku would have withdrawn and warred with bitterness, but instead he'd given the question serious thought and talked it out with him.

After everything Kairi had been through, he wanted her to have something that was special, that was only hers. He wanted Sora and Kairi to share one, and have that to fall back on whenever they were scared or lonely or dubious. Riku was more sure of himself, no longer the insecure little boy trapped on Destiny Islands, experienced enough to have some insight he'd never possessed before.

Sora and Kairi could share the paopu. He didn't need a mystical fruit to tie his destiny to theirs. He was the person most capable of diving into a situation after them and coming out with his hand in Sora's, or in Kairi's, none the worse for wear. He was a protector.

He was a dream eater.

With all this stress, Sora's mind was restless long into the nights unless he had Riku close by. He'd been thoroughly relaxed, by conversation and by exhaustive lovemaking, so his body was happy to sleep... but his brain was still awake.

Sora shifted a little, mumbling nonsense at Riku's bicep, and he knew the dreams had started. He was at least deeply asleep enough to start imagining against the backdrop of unconsciousness.

Gently, he tilted Sora's head and kissed his forehead. His lips tingled; he could feel the images, taste his restlessness. There was no sensation quite like taking on Sora's slumbering stress, no satisfaction like relieving some of his burden.

Depending on the night, his dreams took on a different flavour. Nights like this were the most common, and Sora tasted like helplessness and apprehension. Riku got flashes of Heartless and Nobodies, all taking on greater shapes and clustering in greater numbers than either of them had ever faced. He glimpsed events as they had already been, but with different outcomes. Kairi without a heart, Riku without light. An empty hand, frantically clutching for a Keyblade that would not manifest.

It was sweet and bitter at the same time. When Riku took those feelings away, he was left calmer and more affectionate.

Other times, the dreams were like a cage around Sora's brain. Nothing felt real, and his identity was a shifting thing. Riku thought those dreams might be influenced by Roxas, dormant inside Sora's heart. They had a bit of salt among the creamy sugar, and when he couldn't quite find every dreg of the dream, Sora would be more fond with Lea the next day.

Then there were dreams that he couldn't attribute to anyone. Dreams of blank, lonely space that was both too dark and too bright; dreams of pain swallowing him whole; worst of all, dreams of Nothingness. Dreams in which nothing existed anymore, nightmares that were simply void.

Riku swallowed them and smiled against Sora's skin. The little groans would stop, and Sora would wake up eight or more hours later with the most brilliant smile. Tomorrow was always a better day, because one or two of his festering doubts seemed to have disappeared overnight.

The dreams settled inside of Riku until he was full and warm, and he closed his eyes.


End file.
